How To Get Your Mac To Count Highlighted Words

Earlier today, I was looking for a way to add the ability to count how many words were highlighted on my Mac. So, after a quick Google search, I came across one implementation on the Macworld forums by guillaumegete. I'll admit, presentation wise, it's not the greatest but it does what I want, it counts the number of characters, signs and paragraphs that you have highlighted.

For anyone wondering, I'm currently running OS X Mavericks 10.9.4 and according to the forum post, this implementation has been tested OS X 10.6 and 10.7.

To add the feature, launch Automator on your Mac, select Service, search for "Run AppleScript" and then add the following code:

on run {input, parameters}
     try
          set MyText to input as string
          set NombreSignes to the number of characters of MyText
          set NombreMots to the number of words of MyText
          set NombrePara to the number of paragraphs of MyText
          set LeResultat to "The selected text contains :" & return & "- " & NombreSignes & " sign(s) ;" & return & "- " & NombreMots & " word(s) ;" & return & "- " & NombrePara & " paragraph(s)."
          display dialog LeResultat buttons {"OK"} default button 1 with icon note
     on error errmsg number errnum
          display dialog errmsg & " [" & errnum & "]" buttons {"OK"} default button 1 with icon stop
  
     end try
     return input
end run

Save the Service and name it whatever you'd like, I called it "Character Count". To use the Service, highlight some text, right click, hover over "Services" and select (in this case) "Character Count".

“How To Alienate Your Users And Make Them To Leave Your Successful App”

A 5 step guide on how to alienate your users, by Aleyda Solis:

1. Split your app in two and force users to download your new app in order to have the same functionality they usually enjoyed before with just one, easy to use app. You will have clear arguments: You need to grow and diversify, your functionalities need to evolve and you need to monetize them in different ways, so it would be very complex to keep them all in just one app.

An entertaining post about Foursquare's new strategy of splitting their popular app — Foursquare, into 2. But, this isn't about Foursquare. I never was a big Foursquare user so if anything, I'm excited to try their new app. My frustration is with Facebook. To me, the first point perfectly sums up how I feel about Facebook forcing you to download the Messenger app by removing messaging functionality from the Facebook app. The Messenger app is great and might I add, looks much better than the original Facebook app. But, that doesn't justify forcing a transition especially when users like me just want to send a message and aren't interested in Facebook's take on group messaging, wi-fi calling, voice messages, stickers etc.

As for "clear arguments", here's Facebook's: "Messenger is much faster. You'll get new messages instantly and can reply right away." Great. Perfect for anyone browsing their Facebook feed and receiving a message from a Facebook friend. They'll be on their way to "reply right away" after leaving Facebook and being thrown into the fast Messenger app.

And so with that said, I'd like to add a new step to alienate your users.

6. Leave a shortcut button in your main app to the relocated service because it is fundamental to your main app's functionality. But, users will have to be thrown from app to app just to accomplish a simple task that they once could easily do in the main app.

Once everyone has transitioned into Messenger, maybe Facebook should release an app that lets you write posts because you know, speed and what not. I'll be looking forward to it along with every other frustrated user that gave Messenger a 1 out of 5 rating on the AppStore.